A recent ASSOCHAM-NEC joint study says that India has witnessed a 457-per cent rise in cybercrime incidents under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 from the year of 2011 to 2016.

Between 2012 and 2017, the number of internet users grew at a CAGR of 44% which has led India to be placed third in terms of number of internet users in the world after the USA and China. Symantec Corp. ranked India among top five countries to be affected by cybercrime, noted the study titled “Digital Policing – Smart Policing for Public Safety”, conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in association with NEC.

To establish a robust three-tiered structure comprising of Central Cyber Cell, District Cyber Cells and Police Station Cyber Teams across the entire jurisdiction of National Capital Territory to deal with cybercrimes and to handle the growing menace of cyber frauds and online harassment, highlighted the study.

Using the latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Facial Recognition, IoT, etc, to identify and catch suspects/criminals, has gained much awareness among various law-enforcement agencies. However, the implementation of these technologies is not on a national level but on a state level, which makes it very important for the Central Government to fund and support state-level law-enforcement agencies to utilize technologies to upgrade their policing methods, noted the joint study.

The Government of India and multiple law-enforcement agencies have taken lead in curbing growing cybercrime. In addition to establish cyber labs and training the officers, additional development in terms of detecting and resolving cybercrime has to be added in the current arsenal of the law enforcers.

Implementing new policing technologies will enable access to personal information, assisting in the delivery of personalized and better public services. It will help in fighting crime, protecting public security, reducing burden on businesses and citizens and tackling social exclusion through early intervention, noted the study.

Crime has been transforming itself to match the technological development happening across the globe. Since the invention of computers and internet, crime has evolved from its physical version to a digital one. Introduction of IT Act in India in 2000, amended in 2008, was the turning point where the Government of India stated focusing on the digital side of crimes.

To prevent cybercrimes through the development of a cyberthreat resilient ecosystem in the state and to defend against cyber-attacks by synergizing with other departments and nodal agencies of the State. Link up with multiple national and international cybersecurity and the law-enforcement agencies to fight against the borderless nature of the cybercrimes.

Indian Police has been constantly fighting cybercrime and has taken up multiple initiatives (Cybercrime labs, response centers, cyber forensic labs, etc) to do the same.

To counter it, State Government and State police are constantly developing new anti-cybercrime measures with the help of Central Government and private organizations. Other than these initiatives, training and development of Police officers in the field of identifying and solving cybercrimes has been made imperative to keep police updated about the latest criminal activities and the methods required to tackle them.